21st July 2022,

It's been a hot moment since I've last written, believe me, I know, but a lot has happened since. Sometimes it tends to look like my very boring life became interesting and filled with drama ever since Astrid came in and maybe, there is truth in that.

This while of a few months has been a lot happy rather than sad and believe me, the both of us needed some happiness after the Ryan drama. Unfortunately, our half-year anniversary was right in the smack middle of our finals but we spend the day in a park, making flower crowns to each other with snacks of my courtesy and Astrid had brought her photo albums of her childhood.

That was a really good day.

Another good one was my birthday, on the 06th of June and that was one of the nicest days of my entire life. Truth be told, I never really thought birthdays were special because something terrible always happened around them but with Astrid? I'm looking forward to mine next year again.

She said something and I think that resonated, 'Birthdays are the one day you celebrate yourself, sure you can do that every other day too but it's special because you never really know if you're going to get the next one. You might. Or you might not either.'

During the exams, her hermana Claudia kept us separated. While she knew that we were different and we would actually study, she did not under any circumstances want Astrid's grades to drop and so, she had Astrid under house arrest.

For a few days, Astrid threw fits and refused to cooperate but after a while, she realised there wasn't much use. So, instead, I came over to hers.

The first time I had ever gone to her place was a few days before our half-year anniversary and lord almighty, I did not think her house was that big even though she mentioned it was big.

Her house was on a completely different street and I never really went to hers - because that would be stalker-ish (believe me I've had this internal conversation with myself many times like: "You're dating, it's not stalkerish" "She never really gave you her address or invited you over either, yes, it's stalkerish") - but eventually, when I did, I questioned if it was the right place as I stood in front of the black articulate gate latched shut.

Astrid came running out front to answer that day and the sun shone down on her, she looked like my teenage dream. Her house had a lobby. A freaking lobby. And not to mention the huge garden and pavements, and the three cars in the garage.

I still kinda wonder how the hell Claudia kept this place in top shape.

Her house was two-storeyed, and it was articulate as fuck. There were famous paintings in every room except Astrid's own. And her bedroom was thrice the size of mine. She had two full-sized shelves in her bedroom, three full-length mirrors, a walk-in closet for summer clothes and one for winter and goddamn, it was just huge in all.

I wondered why she even liked my cramped small tiny place.

I had asked her that, she said it got lonely after a while.

My first impression of Claudia was not as I expected. While she had an aura of sophistication and was very well-dressed and well-bred, she was at the same time extremely homely. She was strict but she was kind. It was hard not to be impressed by Claudia Marcena.

She was a lot like how my own mother raised me. Except she was a lot younger than my mum and a little stricter.

It was an absolute honour to have met Teresa Finlay, or like Astrid called her - abuelita. Well, abuela or grandmama, there were quite a few names she called her. She shared lovely stories of her times in Cuba when she was a little girl and I loved the times, Astrid and her would sing the lullabies of Astrid's childhood.

I loved the ways she would talk to Astrid in Spanish occasionally when I was around so I wouldn't understand them but she'll laugh and then translate what she said immediately.

Anyways, after ranting for about ten minutes about Astrid's family and house, I better get to the terrible yet good news.

Astrid got into a fight.

It had started off almost a month ago. She started talking less and less and I was starting to get worried a little by little but I didn't want to intrude and barge into her bubble. Of course, I asked her if she was alright every single day and made sure that she always knew that she had me if she needed me.

Either way, I soon realised what was going on. The hate online was not reducing even after she had reported it to the cyber police, pictures and videos of her viral fall would not stop circulating and she was still hearing people talking about it.

Sometimes, I felt really disappointed and felt like I was the reason she was losing her own popularity.

She said she didn't mind but I knew otherwise.

Eventually, she had gotten to the bottom of it. I don't exactly know the moment she realised the truth behind it all, but it had been her friends who had been circulating those videos. To be completely frank, it was Poppy and Johanna who were involved. The hardest blow was when it was Johanna's own brother who was spreading it all and she never said a thing against it.

When Astrid had been screaming and asking her in the parking lot of the shopping mall that Sunday about why she did it, Jo was honest and said she only did so because she thought it was funny. It might've been funny - yes - if it hadn't hurt Astrid so much.

Eventually, she realised that Peony had been in on it as well. In fact, she had been the one to send the news about Astrid being at the party to everyone with her reel having Astrid in the background and she was the one who had been feeding news to Jo's brother - Owen - about all that was going on in Astrid's life just because she had a crush on him and he was a bit flirty talking to her.

It was still hilarious in a twisted way about how Peony couldn't get a hint and understand that Owen was only using her because he wanted to get even closer to Ryan and help him get his life off Astrid.

Talk about drama, honestly.

Either way, it wasn't going well because - when Astrid realised everything that was going on, she did not hesitate. If there was one thing I really admired about her was that she wouldn't let anyone treat her like shit. Even if it was her best friend, she would speak up for herself. Regardless of who her opposition was.

She went over to Peony's place and told me to wait for her in the living room while she went to talk to her in her own bedroom. While I was waiting for her, I made small talk with Peony's older brother, Peter Ortlund, and it was honestly a pleasure. He was on the kitchen island, cross-legged and it was a rather odd sight to see a six-foot-something tall, nearly adult man sitting on the kitchen island in joggers and a t-shirt with a tiny gay flag on the corner of it reading 'The Song of Achilles'.

We had small talk and he said that he wasn't gay, or he didn't think he was but a close friend of his was and he had been facing a hard time adjusting and so, he did his best to try and be supportive.

I then realised that he was the really special type of person to exist. Just like Astrid was.

Before we could talk as much as I liked though, Astrid got out of the room and there was sniffling as hurried footsteps came down the staircase. I walked over in sight to make sure she was alright, and she was. Peony, on the other hand, wasn't doing so well. Her eyes were burning red and filled with tears.

"I don't deserve this, Astrid-"

Astrid turned to face her, her hair whipping in the air. "Stop. Just stop, you were the one who decided to spill all the intricate details of my life to Owen when you know he is Ryan's prime source. You were the one who provided them with all the information they needed. You were the one who did those crappy things to me. So please, please, don't talk to me anymore. It's over."

And with that, she grabbed my hand and said, "We're leaving."

I gave a sympathetic glance to Peter and he shrugged and told his sister, "I told you not to trust that Owen guy-"

"Please shut up"

I never got to the end of that conversation that Peter and Peony had but honestly, I'm not even sure if I wanted to. It's been crazy insane on a whole scale and this was a kind of insane I did not want to deal with.

But truth be told, there is nothing prouder than watching your girlfriend break up and cut contact off with a toxic person. I know it might seem unfair but when a person has a habit of being a back-bitcher, it would be a bit more than just complicated to get rid of a habit.

Maybe in the future, they could be friends, but it is for the best in the time being to just cut off contact until she learns her lesson. Until she changed.

And Astrid? Though she was sad, she had become my role model. And I wanted to be her when I grew up. Little miss badass.

On another note, Astrid's on a two-week holiday along with Claudia and her abuela in Italy to go visit Claudia's boyfriend, Adrien and we do face time every day, but it's still not the same. She's coming back home in two days and I can't legit wait for her to get back.

Love,
C.A.L.